Christmas of Our Hearts' Content
by theSammie
Summary: A Christmas at Grimmauld Place teaches James and Teddy that there is more to family than just blood relations.


_**Christmas Of Our Heart's Content**_

"James and Albus!" Ginny Weasley yelled, "If you don't settle down and go to bed, there won't be any presents under the tree tomorrow!"

James and his younger brother, who had been wrestling beside the fireplace glanced up looking scared, no presents would be awful! James took one last glance around his living room which had transformed over winter holiday. A tree stood by the frost covered windows, decorated in many irregular ornaments that had accumulated over the years. Atop the tree, instead of a star there was a gnome in a pink fairy costume holding a plastic wand; the true mark of a Potter-Weasley tree. The fireplace was lit with a roaring orange fire and so many stockings hung from the ledge it was a wonder none fell off. Tiny muggle twinkle lights adorned the ceiling, a touch of Aunt Hermione's, and filling every chair and couch in the room-which seemed to magically expand to comfortably fit all of them-were members of the family. Everyone came to Christmas Eve at Grimmauld Place; it had been a tradition since before James was born. They all came: all of his uncles and aunts and his cousins which seemed to multiply like rabbits, Teddy Tonks, who was James's father's godson and a good friend of his and his grandma Molly, who this year came alone after his grandpa Arthur died.

"Good Night James," Ginny said sweetly as she hustled him out of the room. James noticed out of the corner of his eye that she had begun to pull out several shot glasses and a huge bottle of Firewhiskey, another family tradition. He felt his eyes begin to droop and followed Albus out of the room and up to the third floor where they were sharing a room with Lily for the holiday.

When they got in the room they were careful not to disturb Lily's slumber, "So," Albus whispered to James, "Is it safe to go now?"

"I think so, Lily's asleep and the adults just started there Firewhiskey shots and poker game, so we should be okay for at least an hour or two," James said grabbing his penlight that his father had gotten him at a muggle store one time when they went to visit his muggle side of the family.

"Um no Lily is not asleep," Lilly stated sitting up in the makeshift bed that James's mum had set up for her, "Where are you two going?"

"Um..." James stuttered, Lily could always see right through his lies just like Mum, "Fine we're going to the attic just like we do every year to see what everyone got and switch presents if necessary."

"You are in such trouble!" Lily grinned getting up to get out of bed and tattle on the two brothers.

"Now we're not, "James said quietly blocking the door, "Because you're not going to tell!"

Lily looked skeptical but Albus finally said, "If you come with us you can switch that god-awful puce sweater Grandma always gives you with cousin Lucy's nice purple one."

Lily scowled at the thought of another puce colored sweater and easily agreed to come along.

"Nice one," James whispered to Albus as they led Lily out the door. They headed to the end of the hallway, where 'perfect' Lily swore she had never been, and up a flight of rickety old stairs. At the top there was a creaky trap door which James knew would catch the adults' attention if he didn't use magic to open it. He took out his wand and muttered a spell Teddy had taught him last year when he was eleven. Before this year Teddy had always come along on the midnight charades and shenanigans. This year though he turned into an adult and spent more time with his girlfriend, Victoire.

The door swung open effortlessly and noiselessly and he continued up the stairs into the attic. Since the adults waited to wrap the presents until after their poker and Firewhiskey everything was left unwrapped in bags. Each bag was enough to fit all the presents for one person in it and had that person's name labeled on it, could it get any easier?

James was the first to dive into his bag, he carefully peeled through looking only for the 'Weasley Sweater' his grandma always knitted him. Even though they were the warmest most comfortable sweaters in the world, James always got the pink one. Long ago when James was little, Molly had stopped putting initials on the sweaters because there were too many names to remember; that only made it easier to switch it with Fred's navy blue one. James tried not to look to hard at any of the other presents, he still wanted it to be a surprise for tomorrow. After Albus and Lily exchanged one or two things and raided the other bags seeing what everyone else got, they decided to head back downstairs.

"Okay ready?" James whispered, squinting in the dark to make out his two siblings.

"Yes," Lily and Albus said sleepily picking themselves up off the floor. They started to walk toward the stairs but James held them back and shushed them. Someone was coming up the stairs!

"Hide!" James breathed his breath getting caught in his throat as the three dove behind a bunch of Dad's old boxes. James glared at Albus as if to say, _if you speak I'll kill you: _Albus was notorious for mindless chatter in pressured situations.

James was right, the entire congregation of Weasleys, Potters, and Teddy were heading up the stairs. James held his breath trying not to be heard nor seen. Lily, who was already quite tired when she agreed to follow James and Albus, fell limp against James's side, he thanked the Lord she didn't snore. Albus who was really truly trying not to talk clutched James's arm tightly, James felt his circulation being cut off so he bit his lip.

"Okay here they are!" Uncle Ron said delightedly. James almost exploded trying not to laugh, Weasley's were so funny when they were drunk. He heard the ruffle of dozens of bags being opened and torn apart and rolls of wrapping paper magically wrapping and taping themselves around the presents.

After about five minutes of solid wrapping Harry spoke up, "Are we ready? Wingardium Leviosa Presents!"

James heard the sound of twelve sets of feet clunking down the rickety stairs. When all seemed quiet he whispered to Albus, whose nails were grinding into the flesh of his forearm, "Do you think it's safe to go back down.

"Oh I'd assume so," a voice said right in his ear, "But that was a close shave don't you think?Like father, like son I suppose."

"Shhh!" James exclaimed quietly, "You're going to get us in so much trouble."

"Don't worry young one," Teddy said solemnly, "The adults have so many drinks in them right now they don't know up from down."

"Well what are you doing up here then?" James asked irritatedly, Teddy was being so unlike himself. He was notorious for getting moody around Christmas, seeing our family when he had none—even though dad had tried to convince him we were his family. But James had never known his bad mood to get this, well, bad.

Teddy sighed, "Sometimes I come up here to look at things; I imagine what it would be like if..." he voice faded into the musty attic air. In that moment, with spiky turquoise hair and the same long scars down his face, James realized that Teddy really was the true son of his parents. He was a perfect balance of both Remus and Nymphadora Lupin, or as far as James could tell from the pictures he'd seen.

"Come here," Teddy said pulling a box over towards James. He blew off about an inch of dust that had gathered on the top and opened the lid of the box carefully. James scooted across the floor next to Teddy. Teddy carefully dumped the contents of the box on the floor and it made a loud clang. James flinched, he still wasn't entirely sure that his parents wouldn't notice the noises coming from the attic. Albus stayed in the corner his eyes were closed but James knew he straining his ears to listen to the conversation.

James looked at the contents of the box. It was mostly pictures, a few magazine articles, and an old photo book that was bound in leather. James looked at the pictures confused, what was so special about them?

Teddy looked lovingly at the photos and pulled an article out for James to see, "This is your dad, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione right after the war."

James took the yellowing page torn straight from the Daily Prophet. His father, Harry and Ron and Hermione were just teenagers then, seventeen. Yet in that time, seven years together, they had accomplished more than any wizard ever. Their faces looked worn out but they also looked genuinely happy.

Teddy pulled another picture out of the heap, labeled 1995. It portrayed many of the red-headed Weasleys, his aunt and uncles, surrounding a hospital bed with another Weasley in it, his chest was wrapped in bloody bandages but he still waved at the sight of James.

"Grandpa Arthur?" James asked, he was barely recognizable with red hair, ever since James had known him he had had gray hair.

"Yes," Teddy replied, "Take a look at this." He handed James the leather photo album that was falling apart on one side. On the inside cover in gold ink it read, _To Harry, From The People Who Care About You. _He looked at the pages and saw many pictures of a red-headed woman and a man who looked just like Harry, in each picture they were holding a baby, with a lightning-bolt-scar free forehead. James recognized the man to be his namesake, his grandfather James. So the woman must be his grandmother Lily of whom his sister Lily was named after. The two seemed to oblivious to what was about to happen to them but James knew. He had heard the story a thousand times and each time it broke his heart to hear that those terrible things had happened to his father's parents.

James looked over and saw Teddy inspecting a picture in which a pink headed lady and a man with large gashes down his face were standing hand in hand. The woman was in a wedding dress, the man in a tuxedo; Teddy's parents, "You miss them don't you?" James asked.

"How can I miss them if I never knew them?" Teddy asked, his hair grew longer and brown to cover his face so James turned away to give him some privacy.

"Do you miss them?" Teddy asked, "Your grandparents."

"Yes and no," James said, "When I think of how great it would be if they could spend Christmas and stuff with us then yes; but they died as heroes and I don't think it could be any other way, so no."

"Does it make you sad?" Teddy asked, "Knowing that you'll never see them?"

"Yes and no, for the same reasons," James answered.

"Is it wrong of me to want them back?" Teddy asked, "You're only twelve yet you seem to have thought this out nicely. Me, I'm eighteen and I still have trouble sleeping at night when I think about them, there's not a day that goes by where I don't wish they were right here next to me."

"I don't think that's wrong," James replied thoughtfully, "You lost your parents, I didn't. You don't see us as your family and you never had one of your own."

"What are you talking about?" Teddy asked, "I do see you as my family, my only family. Since Andromeda died I think of you guys as family even more."

"Then why do you skulk every time there's a holiday or something that involves all of us?" James asked.

"I...I'm sorry, I didn't realize. I just wish my parents were there that's all," Teddy spoke, "It's gotten worse over time I suppose."

James stared out the attic's only window and into the moonlight. His eyes began to droop and his head felt like lead.

The next morning he awoke perfectly tucked into his bed. Albus lay right beside him. He looked out the window and saw the sun begin to peek over the side of the hill.

He threw a pillow at Albus's head, shook Lily awake and ran to the top of the stairs. He could see a shiny stack of presents at the foot of the tree and stockings heaping full of goodies. James, Lily and Albus began to holler at the family to come downstairs. Dozens of Weasley cousins and aunts and uncles clambered into the living room and tore into the presents. The room was alive with the sound of paper being torn and everyone had a grin on their face.

Teddy even laughed aloud and cracked his usual nonsense jokes. James could have tagged it the Best Christmas ever.

"I don't know what it is," James heard Harry whisper in Ginny's ear, "But our Ted seems happier."

"I think I could take a guess," Ginny said, her eye twinkling as she nodded towards James.

* * *

**Samantha**


End file.
